Do You Know The Divine?
“If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand.” ~ Eido Tai Shimano Roshi
We may not exactly feel the warm sun on our face or a gentle wind. Today and tomorrow, we are in the midst of wind chill alert days. However, the sentiment in today’s quote is very real: God’s presence is all around us and all we need to do is open our senses up to experience Him.
Too many people look for God in great moments, in huge epiphanies, it bold statements. Yet God is present in the small, seemingly mundane, things that make up our daily lives. We can feel Him in the breeze — as warm or as cold as it may be. We can see Him in spectacular sunrises and sunsets. We can hear Him in the giggle of an infant, the laugh of a child, or the cry of an adult. We can experience His love in the warmth expressed to us by another.
God is in all things and speaks to us through all things. He is not distant or remote. He is not undiscoverable. He is right in front of you.
Does that surprise you? It might be because you are looking in all the wrong places. There is the story of Elijah who fled to Mt. Carmel after all the prophets of his time had been put to death. He was searching for God’s presence so that he could ask for direction. He thought that God was in a huge wind, a large fire, and a landslide. But God was not there. God was in the whispering wind that surrounded Elijah, in the very air from which he drew his breath.
Don’t look so hard. Instead, open your eyes, ears, and hearts to the possibility that God is right there, right now, waiting to speak words of encouragement and comfort to you.
FAITH ACTION: Take some time to stop whatever it is you are doing, slow yourself down, and ask God to reveal Himself to you.